Knesset preliminarily approves ban on UNRWA's work in Israel and Jerusalem
Honest Israeli Knesset A bill that prevents the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) from working inside the Occupied Territories and Jerusalem.
After the Knesset's vote on Wednesday evening, the bill still has to pass three readings before it becomes law.
The Knesset said in a statement that the bill was supported by 33 members and opposed by 10 (out of 120 present) and that it will pass the bill to the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee to further prepare it for further readings.
The bill would ban UNRWA from operating in the occupied territories and instruct the Israeli police to enforce the ban.
The bill stipulates that UNRWA's role is to provide services only to Palestinian refugees, and therefore there is no reason for it to provide any services within Israel's borders, where there are no Palestinian refugees, but rather residents of the state who receive services from various state institutions, according to the statement.
The draft resolution alleges that the UN agency is being used to incite and educate hatred of Israel and harm its Jewish population, and that schools run by the agency in Jerusalem teach what it describes as anti-Semitic material.
UNRWA has numerous educational and health institutions in East Jerusalem and runs the Shuafat refugee camp, the only camp in the city. Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood East Jerusalem.
Since January 26, 18 countries, led by the United States and the European Union, have suspended funding to UNRWA in response to Israel's allegations that 12 of the agency's 13,000 employees in Gaza were involved in "Al-Aqsa flood"on Oct. 7 against Israel, and the IAEA said it was investigating the allegations.
UNRWA was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1949 and is mandated to provide assistance and protection to refugees in its five areas of operation. JordanandSyriaandLebanonandWest BankandGaza Strip.
UNRWA's functions are to directly implement relief and employment programs for Palestinian refugees in cooperation with local governments, as well as to consult with the governments concerned regarding the implementation of relief and employment projects and to plan for the time when these services will no longer be needed.
The agency serves approximately 5.9 million people, about two-thirds of whom live in 58 recognized refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In 2022, 544,710 students were enrolled in UNRWA schools.
Earlier, Israeli media reported that the Israeli government had taken measures to ban UNRWA's work in Jerusalem occupied.
The Israeli allegations against UNRWA come amid the continuation of the occupation's aggression against Gaza, which has left 28,663 martyrs and 68,395 wounded, mostly children and women, in addition to thousands of missing persons, according to the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip.
Source: Anadolu Agency
